Tag: Liz Carmouche

Invicta FC 1 wasn’t the first promotion to feature an all-femalefight card, nor did they invent the MMA livestream, but last night they paired the two beautifully for a groundbreaking show that will undoubtedly do wonders for WMMA. The online broadcast is said to have peaked at 100k viewers, some four-times their initial projection.

Overall the show had a professional, polished appearance. The familiar voice of Mauro Renallo carried the commentary team with the sort of obvious, gender-based puns that we would never personally sink t…oh, right. The recently unemployed “King Mo” kept it 100 on the mic, but casual doesn’t always equal comfortable or competent, and Jon Anik can breath a little easier this morning. Alongside Lawal, Julie Kedzie called the fight from a fighter’s perspective, and with a little more experience she could transition well into that roll.

While one of Invicta’s stated goals is to develop clearly defined weight classes, the fighters will have to do their part when it’s time to step on the scales. With four fighters missing weight for the inaugural event, some of them badly, there’s still much work to be done.

As for the fights, it was an overall entertaining card. Videos and a recap are after the jump.

What up, Potato Nation, it’s your boy ReX13 here at the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall in Kansas City, ready to watch some ladies fight. I realize some of you have dirty-ass opinions about women’s MMA, and to you assholes I say this: I think there’s an NBA game on or something. Is the NFL draft still on? How’d my Carolina Panthers do? Actually, don’t answer that, just exit stage left. For the rest of you, let’s party: we got a badass card to watch.

Since the whole thing is streaming for free right here, I’m going to forego an actual play-by-play and just drop observations as the night goes on. I’m also ready to grab snapshots and video of the things you can’t see, so expect butt shots of Natasha Wicks. I’m all for girl power, but I also know what my Nation likes.

One more note: they are trying to disable the media with a light show and deafening dubstep. Pray for me.

Come on in, the show starts at 8pm ET. Until then, feel free to tweet your best #BadPickUpLinesAtInvictaFC at me, because I’m immature.

I don’t know how you have a staredown with a French accent, but I’m pretty sure Romy Ruyssen (right) is doing it.

So let’s get this out of the way: I live in Kansas.

No, I don’t know what the hell a jayhawk is. I’m not actually from here.

Anyways, Invicta Fighting Championships is going down just a short drive away in Kansas City, so I was quick to accept when I was offered a chance to be a member of the fight media for the inaugural Invicta FC card.

There were a few hiccups at the weigh-ins: for some reason, they did not set up a raised platform for me to set up upon. As a result my pictures and video were of decidedly low quality. (As a recompense, please enjoy a few pictures courtesy of Invicta’s own photographer, Esther Lin.)

Women’s MMA will have a new home starting on April 28 when Invicta Fighting Championships holds its inaugural event in Kansas City.

The upstart all female fight league, which will be promoted by IFC co-owner and VP Shannon Knapp who has worked for the IFL, UFC and Strikeforce in different capacities including matchmaker and fighter relations, announced the event and its existence on Sunday. A press release sent out by the promotion also stated that it has signed several of the sport’s top female talents (a few of whom are regular CP readers), including Strikeforce standouts Marloes Coenen, Sarah D’Aleo and Liz Carmouche, Dutch submission specialist Romy Ruyssen and former Bellator tournament competitors Jessica Penne and Lisa Ellis-Ward.

“The time has come for a platform dedicated exclusively to building the growing women’s division in our great sport,” said Knapp. “Invicta is committed to increasing the depth of the women’s field and building female superstars by providing women athletes with the opportunity to compete and hone their skills on a consistent basis throughout the year.”

The April show will feature former Strikeforce bantamweight champ, Coenen’s return to featherweight where she will rematch Ruyssen in the main event of the night.

The Marines, enjoying someone fighting for them for a change. (Photo: MMAOnTap.com)

There is no shortage of military metaphors in the world of MMA. “War Diaz.” “War Penn.” Our athletes don’t just compete, they go to battle. Even that shirt you claim not to own is ‘an expression of combat known worldwide’.

But these are mere words. For a select few of the sport’s elite, the challenges they encounter inside of the cage are nothing compared to the trials they signed up for by enlisting in the armed forces. It turns out the reasons MMA fighters serve their country, and their experiences in the military, are as varied as anyone else’s. As we celebrate Veteran’s Day, check out a quick glimpse of their lives in uniform.

It’s been clear in recent months that Strikeforce is losing its grip on its top talent, but last night its Challengers series continued to plug away in its mission to develop the MMA stars of tomorrow. The action yielded a few decisions, a couple of exciting stoppages, and some much needed direction for Strikeforce’s female fighters.

For the third time in fourteen months, Bobby Voelker and Roger Bowling locked horns under the Strikeforce banner, and the rubber match did not disappoint. Bowling was the energetic aggressor from the onset, mixing up his strikes and throwing numerous hard body kicks in the first round. Voelker landed a few shots of his own, but he was too passive and flat-footed to answer most of Bowling’s attacks. A first round eye-poke bent Bowling over, bringing fears of a second early stoppage via inadvertent foul in this series, but “Relentless” was able to continue. Round two saw Bowling pushing the action again as he worked tirelessly for the takedown, but Voelker landed a big knee with his back against the cage that rocked Bowling backward. A few follow-up punches dropped Bowling and a few more on the ground sealed the deal, earning Voelker the win and the tie breaker by TKO.

Heads up Potato Nation: one of our own is scrapping tonight. Liz Carmouche is a fan of CagePotato in good standing, along with several members of her team. Maybe you remember them: Team Hurricane Awesome MMA Team of Awesomeness? Yup, they like us over there, and we like them. Now, we’re not making any promises, but Girl-Rilla may shout out the Nation before and/or after her fight. Also possibly during the fight, depending on how things go.

“[They] told us in a very professional way,” Palmisciano explained to CagePotato.com. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it now, I completely understand. It’s a business deal and I’ve got no hard feelings. I think it’s a good business decision for them and from my position, I don’t feel like we’re owed anything.”

That’s very gracious of him, but the fighters are still going to be losing money unless another sponsor picks them up, right? Wrong. “I know it sounds cheesy, but the military is a family and we are very passionate about what we do in taking care of the people in our community,” Palmisciano said. “We’ve been sponsoring Tim Kennedy since 2006 and we’re not going to all of a sudden treat a member of our family differently because an organization imposes a fee that prohibits us from going forward with the deal that we had. We’re going to continue to support both fighters like they were already and they will both get paid from Ranger Up like they expected to for this fight and in the future.”

An interesting conspiracy theory from Saturday night’s women’s welterweight title bout between champion Marloes Coenen and challenger Liz Carmouche was that Carmouche actually tapped out to Coenen’s tight standing guillotine in the second round.

We decided to give the video a second look and we took the liberty of making an animated gif of the sub attempt. It’s a moot point since Coenen was able to secure a fight-ending triangle in the fourth round to retain the strap, but had Carmouche won, Team Golden Glory may have had a decent case for an appeal.

Check out the gif after the jump and decide for yourself whether or not “Gorilla” pulled a Sonnen.